Hi Guys/Gals,

Saw an O/T post in the thread on the new 370Z where a concern was expressed regarding parts availability and a 4 day time to get an alternator for an STR-6. That is bad... but here is my latest.
Started hearing a ringing/gurgling noise when I cranked up the SRT a week ago, so I popped the
hood to take a listen. To me, it sounded like it was coming from the S/C pulley (stock pulley is on
the car). However, I did drive the car up to the store, and after a mile the noise went away. I was
thinking the serpentine belt might be going bad, but it looks very good.

So, I took the car to the shop first thing on Monday morning, and they diagnosed a failing Idler
pulley (I assume the mean the bearing). So, they ordered one, and said it would be a couple of
days until the part arrived. On this Thursday past, I called to check the status, and found that
they were expecting the part by Friday morning. Thought that was a little long, but what are you
going to do? I called back on Friday around 1:00 PM, and was told that the part had not arrived
and was not expected until Monday.

A whole week, just to get an idler pulley! What's up with this? Had this been a Chevy or a Ford,
or any other car in the Chrysler lineup it would have been in a parts bin in the back room. Hell,
I've even had to wait days just for the dealer to get an oil filter and air filters (actually, I did
circumvent this by going out and buying aftermarket filters, which I should not have had to do).
A head light took 4 days to arrive. I just can't understand why, at least, standard wear parts are
not stocked in the Dealer's service department.

I know a guy who has an SL55, and he never has to wait for parts delivery when he goes in for
an oil change, or a head light change. He had a problem with water pump, and they had one in
stock. He was in and out in a few hours. So, what gives with Chrysler not being able to stock
parts for the car they sold? This is unreal. Does anyone else get peeved over this type of service?

Coyote

 

Peeved, but understandable. If you are lucky enough to have a MB dealer nearby I would think that they have the parts available. Being that this car is 80+ percent MB explains why your local Chrysler dealer isn't stocking parts. That and the rarity of the car. If you go to local autoparts stores you will find that they practically carry nothing for this car.
I get my parts from on line searches rather than look locally. Usally cheaper too. And I do my own work that saves $$$ and time.

 

So you took your car to the dealer for the idler bearing failure?

 

In these days when cash flow is king, I can understand why many parts are not in stock. If the dealer has an item in stock it means he had to buy it, some parts may hardly ever be needed and his/her money is tied up. If a special part is ordered from the warehouse and not used soon enough it goes back for credit. These days nobody likes having their money sit on the shelf.
The Crossfire left many dealers with a bad taste in their mouths because of Chrysler's demand that they take x number of Xfires and then could not sell them, they had to pay for these cars via bank loans and forced to buy tool kits etc. Many of these cars sat for a year or so while the dealer paid interest on a car that he sold for a loss just to move it off the lot.

 

How many miles on your car Coyote?

 

Well

I can understand it. Enough said.

The only addition to the thread is warranty. New Xfires, or indeed any new cars in the UK, typically carry a 3 year/60k miles warranty on everything from the transmission to the aircon. So, don't mess with the oily bits but there's a downside - you have to have repairs undertaken by the Dealer with Mopar stock. No sneaking off to MB and having a new gubbins fitted; you'll void the warranty. And no servicing outside the dealer network either because this is not third party: it's Chrysler mfr warranty.

The upside is free towing to the dealer workshops and free replacement vehicle delivered to your door for as long as your baby is in the shop.

All in all I'd still prefer reliability and a rapid fix.

Andy G

 

Idler pulley alternates are available at any auto parts store, under designations for different cars. You have to pur research in to find the right size, bearing, etc etc but I've done it... I dont have any of the info anymore though and my head hurts just thinking about researching again. Basically you mean need a 90mm pulley with a 17mm bore, and at least 30mm width.

But aaannyywwwaayyys, I have a ringing from my engine bay also. Sounds like a pulley. But both my idler pulleys are good, dead silent and spin solid. In fact I've replaced one for other reasons so that leaves only 1 other old one, but its good.

So I hope they were right when they diagnosed your idler pulley as being the problem....

 

Thanks to you all for your replies. Yeah, I understand the economics, but I've been having this
car serviced at this Dealership (where I bought the care), and I don't expect to have things like
oil filters and headlights, and every little thing needed, to require 3 days of downtime while those
parts (any parts) are shipped in. Don't get me wrong. I am a true fan, and I'll do what it takes to
keep this car on the road (67,897 miles, so far). It just screws with my mind that it takes 3 days to
repair anything, because of the non stocking of parts. So, I vent here. You guys help me keep
my sanity .

I do perform some of my own work, but I'm not a gear head, per se. I don't have the know how
to do the diagnostics necessary to ensure I've covered all the bases when a problem arises. Shoot,
I get nervous in swapping out my intake and code 3 pulley, and am constantly referring to the
directions I've printed from the forum to make sure I don't miss anything. But, if you want a
smoking, cutting edge computer, I can build you one from the ground up, that'll last you ten years,
and perform with the fastest from a store for at least 5 of those years. Or, if your enterprise
applications are running slow, I'll come by and tweak your Unix servers, fix your network, resolve
your memory leaks and analyze your web apps to get you the best performance for your workload.

The upshot is, the car was in the shop for a total of 11 days. Problem was nothing more than
waiting for parts, wrong part received, waiting for parts, and weekends. The good news is that
I've got the car back (imagine Gollum getting the ring back, if he had), the ringing/screeching
noise is gone, and happiness is restored.

Thanks again for your comments.

Coyote

 

Absence makes the heart grow fonder they say.